Let Me Return
by Satine89
Summary: Luffy and his crew accidentally land on Usopp's old home-island to restock, and they're taking three days to themselves! But a lot can happen in three days... -Two up- (figure out the pairings yourself) PG for romance and stuff.
1. Default Chapter

_Let Me Return_

_One – Landing on Kuro-neko's Grave_

Luffy looked out onto the horizon. He strained his eyes, and saw the very island Nami had spoken of. It was fairly small, but the crew needed to stock up on food, for Sanji needed something to cook, and Zoro had been complaining about lack of grog.

It would be a very short mission, and even Usopp knew there was no time to mess around today.

The 'Merry Go' floated in the water, drifting cautiously towards the small island. The land was low enough to moor the ship without effort, much to Nami's glee, for she really didn't want to rig anything today. All five of the crewmates were hungry, and they didn't spare much breath on speaking.

"We're almost there," Luffy said flatly, trying not to waste any energy on speech.

"All right," Sanji responded. "Finally, off of this crap-ship."

"What did you say, crap-cooker?" Usopp sneered.

"Nothing, crap-liar," Sanji snapped back.

"Shut up, you two," Zoro sighed.

Nami interjected nothing into the argument. Her body was crying out for food, even though she had just eaten a mere two hours ago. She raised her eyes towards the island and noticed it was pretty close.

Nami walked over to the ship's various controls and moved it into shore. The ship stopped, having run into the sandy bottom. Just to be safe, Nami heaved the anchor off of the ship's deck and dropped it into the water below.

Zoro, Usopp, Luffy, and Sanji took notice of the dull thud ensuing from Nami's dropping of the anchor, and smiled.

"Land!" Luffy yelled, jumping off of the boat and landing safely on the ground.

Usopp pulled a ladder out from the deck and placed it down on the edge of the boat, creating a much safer pathway towards the bottom.

Luffy crossed his arms as Sanji, Usopp, Nami and Zoro (in that order) exited off of the boat.

"It would have been so much easier if you had just jumped," Luffy complained to Zoro. Zoro sighed.

"We can't ALL eat the Devil-Fruit, Luffy," Zoro reminded him.

"Hey, crap-swordsman," Sanji complained, "Get over here. Supplying will be a lot easier with you two helping."

Luffy and Zoro caught up with the other three crewmates of theirs, and together they walked into the village. But there was something vaguely familiar about the place…

Usopp's jaw dropped. Luffy, Zoro, and Nami gasped, too.

"My village!" Usopp cried, a smile breaking out on his face. "My village!"

Sanji indifferently lit a cigarette. "Yeah? What's so important about this place?"

Usopp couldn't contain his excitement. Before any one of the pirates knew it, Usopp began to run down the path, screaming, "PIRATES ARE COMING!"  
The neighbors bolted out of their chairs, their windows, their houses.

"Usopp?"

"He's back!"

"Idiot still has it in him!"

"Shut up!"

"I don't get it," Sanji sighed, a cloud of cigarette smoke wafting over him.

Nami giggled. "Don't worry, Sanji. Let Usopp have his fun."

Usopp continued to run, screaming his statements, while the village followed him, screaming bloody murder or joining his mirth.

Luffy smiled. "Come on, let's join them."

Luffy and Zoro ran after the village, screaming the same thing as Usopp. Nami grinned and chased after them, laughing with glee.

Sanji smirked, put out his cigarette on a fence, and ran after his crazy crewmates.

--

Mistress Kaya looked out her window. A large group had begun shouting and parading around the village. Leading this chorus was a voice she thought she'd never hear again, and her heart began to pound with delight.

"Usopp," Kaya murmured.

Kaya was dressed fine enough, in a suit and skirt with a white shirt underneath. Kaya dashed out of the house, her usually frail body becoming strong with the desire to see her long lost friend.

Leading the group was Usopp, with the pirate crew that had saved her town a year before, only this time they had a new member, a somewhat attractive one with blonde hair.

Kaya didn't see anything in Sanji. She was just overwhelmed with happiness. Usopp was back. _Her_ Usopp was back.

"Usopp!" Kaya called. Usopp saw Kaya and beamed. Miss Kaya was still there.

"Miss Kaya," Usopp said. Kaya, unable to hold back her happiness, ran to Usopp and held him tightly. Usopp blushed pink, even as Kaya let him go.

"What brings you four… five – back here?" Kaya asked.

"They've come to wake us up in the morning!" one villager cried.

"They've come to irritate us!" another villager said.

"They've come to get those three kids out of our hair!"

Luffy turned towards the crowd. "Actually, we need to get some supplies."

"Supplies!"

The roar echoed over the crowd.

"Get the supplies!"

"Bring our finest grog!"

"Feed them!"

Luffy looked at the villagers, all of them scurrying to get the supplies.

"Why do they revere us like this?" Sanji sighed, reaching for his box of cigarettes.

"I had to tell them," Kaya murmured. Usopp's eyes widened. Kaya looked at Usopp.

"They knew something had happened. So I gave in… but the three boys, Carrot, Onion, Pepper… they never told a soul," Kaya smiled. "They love you, Usopp."

_Just as I love you, _Usopp thought.

Kaya bowed. "Do you wish to come in?"

The pirate crew nodded, and followed Kaya into the house.

--

The young bar maiden scurried around her tavern, carrying boxes of grog in and out of her tavern.

On one such trip, the maiden was carrying a crate of grog towards the ship when she saw a man. She had never seen him before, yet she was instantly drawn to him.

He had blonde hair, which the man pushed out of his face in an extremely striking fashion as he took out a cigarette. He lowered his gorgeous eyes as he pulled out a lighter.

The bar maiden was frozen in her tracks. Never in her life had she been so taken by an individual person, never had she been so rooted to the spot she stood.

"Yohchi!" cried a voice. The bar maiden looked up; so did the handsome man.

"Hurry up, Yohchi!" the voice yelled.

"Coming!" Yohchi called, carrying the crate of grog as she tried to keep her face from becoming bright red. Yohchi, instead, focused on moving one foot in front of the other.

A warm hand rested on her bare shoulder. She turned, her strapless bar dress swaying with the sudden movement. The hand belonged to the man that Yohchi had been staring at.

"Do you need some help with that?" the man asked. Even though Yohchi was trying desperately not to blush, she did anyway.

"N-no… I'm fine, t-thank you…" Yohchi stammered.

"Yohchi!" the voice screeched. "Hurry up!"

"Yohchi?" the man inquired.

"T-that's m-me," Yohchi hesitated. Yohchi began to walk again when the man turned and stood before Yohchi.

"I'm Sanji," the man said simply. "You better hurry before whoever that is kills you."

Yohchi took off, nervous and at the same time exceedingly happy.

"Finally you show up, Yohchi! What took you?"

"Air headed bar maiden. We shouldn't have trusted her with the grog… she might drop it."

Sanji heard the feeble voice of Yohchi respond, amidst the cruel laughter of the others, "I-I'm s-sorry, Madame…"

Sanji turned on his heel and walked away from the tavern.

--

Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Zoro and Sanji sat down in a room, at the village inn. Luffy, Nami, Zoro and Usopp had just come back from Kaya's; Sanji had taken a self-guided tour of the island to get acquainted with it.

"We can only stay here three more days," Luffy stated. Usopp felt his heart become heavy. He finally saw Kaya once again, and he only had three days with her.

Nami nodded. "We can't afford any more than that."

"This place is great," Sanji told Usopp. "It's like a sanctuary from the real world…"

"I love it," Usopp smirked.

Zoro looked out the window, at the darkness. Suddenly his eyebrow rose up.

"Hey, it's the three kids," Zoro grinned.

Usopp threw the door to the room open and dashed down the stairs to see his old pirate crew.

Carrot, Onion, and Pepper waited patiently for Usopp. When Usopp opened the door to the inn, the three boys smiled widely.

--

During the night, Sanji stopped by the bar that he had seen Yohchi come out of. He had become somewhat interested in the shy little girl, so he walked inside the tavern.

It was nearly empty, with the exception of Zoro, who Sanji had come to grab and bring back to the inn. But there was something else he needed to do now.

Yohchi was mopping the floor up when Sanji came up to the bar. Yohchi didn't look up.

"Yohchi!" a harsh voice yelled. "We have a customer!"

"Ah!" Yohchi whimpered. She quickly put the mop back in its place and bowed to Sanji. "T-Terribly sorry, s-sir, how can I h-help you?"

Yohchi looked up, and realized that it was the man she had seen earlier. Once again, Yohchi became very red and even shyer than before.

"I'll just have some water, thank you, Miss Yohchi," Sanji responded. Yohchi turned swiftly and poured some filter water into a glass when she dropped the glass into the sink. A dull thud echoed throughout the pub.

"What did you do know, Yohchi?" the same voice screamed.

"S-Sorry, Madame!" Yohchi stammered as she picked up the glass, washed it out, and began to pour some more water. This time, she managed not to drop it and handed it to Sanji, her hand unusually wobbly.

Sanji put the water onto one of the small wooden coasters and looked into Yohchi's green eyes. "You have very stunning eyes, Miss Yohchi."

Yohchi became crimson red. "T-Thank you, S-Sanji, sir…"

"You seem a bit shy," Sanji noted. "Why is that so?"

"I-I don't k-know, s-sir…" Yohchi murmured, looking to the floor.

"Is it because of me?" Sanji asked bluntly. Yohchi started to breathe heavily.

"N-No s-sir, I'm always l-like t-this," Yohchi managed to splutter.

Zoro was still sleeping in a chair near the front, at a table with three empty beer mugs.

Sanji frowned. "What if I was to say that you were beautiful? What would you do?"

Yohchi said nothing, instead trying not to blush so hard. Sanji chuckled.

"I understand, Miss Yohchi," Sanji smirked. "Can you meet me on the beach tomorrow at ten am?"

"I-I d-don't know, s-sir…"

"Sanji," Sanji corrected. "Don't call me sir, just Sanji."

"…S-Sanji, I n-need to w-work tomorrow…"

"For heaven's sake, take the day off, Yohchi!" the Madame yelled from her perch, which Sanji couldn't find. "You cause me more trouble than some of the drunkards!"

Sanji looked into Yohchi's eyes again. "So?"

"Ah… I-I t-think I c-can, Sanji!" Yohchi said quickly, her face still very red.

Sanji smiled. "All right." Sanji went to rouse his sleeping comrade as Yohchi stood, as if stuck to the floor, unable to move at all. She was so nervous, but she was looking forward to… their date, as it seemed it was.

"Zoro, wake up!" Sanji yelled angrily.

Zoro opened his eyes, then jumped up. "How long have I been here?"

"A long time," Sanji grumbled. "Come on, we need to get back to the inn."

DISCLAIMER: I don't own One Piece, but Yohchi is my character. And before all the Sanji fans come attacking me, Yohchi is not a version of me. It's more like all of my friends rolled together - with the super-shyness of me around hot guys. Okay?

Ren: hahahah Sanji's not hot.

(Satine tries to kill Ren)

Satine: TAKE IT BACK, JERK!


	2. In Love

_Let Me Return_

_Two – In Love (Day One of Three)_

Usopp knocked on the window with a clear view of Miss Kaya's bedroom. Usopp waited patiently, and eventually Kaya opened the window.

"Usopp!" Kaya cried. Usopp beamed.

"Do you want to hear a story? A true story?" Usopp added. Kaya's eyes widened in anticipation.

"Yes, definitely!" Kaya cried. She couldn't hold back her excitement. Not only was it one of Usopp's stories, which were always interesting, it was just the fact that Usopp was there that sent her heart aflutter.

"Well, not long after we left this island, we came across a giant rock!" Usopp said with enthusiasm. "The rubber kid couldn't hit it, so I blew the top off of that rock! And wouldn't you know it, inside were two hideous bounty hunters, out to get us!"

Kaya laughed for no reason. Usopp always managed to cheer her up, and always had. Her only wish was that Usopp would stay there, just telling his story, not knowing how she felt about him.

Usopp lowered his head after finishing his story, which took about an hour. "But there was one thing that I really missed, out there on the Merry Go."

"What?" Kaya asked, a bit disturbed by Usopp's tone of voice. He looked a bit nervous, and he no longer sounded cheerful and bright. On the contrary, he was a bit… serious.

Usopp looked down. "It was…"

"Yes?" Usopp looked straight into Kaya's eyes, and Kaya felt her own eyes widen.

"…you."

Kaya turned red. Usopp mistook her blushing and looked down at the grass.

"…But I figured that you didn't… you know… _like_ me…"

Kaya immediately pressed her hands against the windowsill. "No, that's not it Usopp!"

Usopp had gotten up, but he turned to face her.

"I love you!" Kaya yelled, unable to hold back her feelings. "I always have, and I always will!"

A very long silence came. Kaya felt her heart threatening to pop out of her chest; Usopp felt his face go completely red.

"You do…?" Usopp managed to murmur.

"Yes!" Kaya cried. "Ever since I first met you! I've missed you ever since you left, that long year ago, and I prayed you'd come back! I knew you would, and you did…"

Kaya looked away. Usopp turned and saw Kaya's hand on the windowsill. He put his own hand onto Kaya's, and she suddenly turned to face Usopp.

"I love you too, Mistress Kaya," Usopp told Kaya.

--

"Where's Usopp?" Nami asked Luffy.

"Usopp? He went to see Kaya," Zoro responded. "The real question is, where's Sanji?"

"I haven't seen him since this morning," Luffy added. The three remaining members of Luffy's Pirate Crew looked at each other.

"He's probably taking a smoke," Zoro shrugged.

"Or cooking!" Luffy suggested.

Nami sighed. "Doubt it, Luffy. He's probably hitting on some girl."

Zoro nodded. "Come to think of it, the bar maid was pretty red after we left last night."

"Who?" Nami asked. "What'd she look like?"

"She had short aquamarine hair, wide eyes, and she was pretty gangly."

"She's always red," Nami shook her head. "She was helping me load up. When I asked her how many crates were left, she spazzed out and began apologizing."

"What's her name again?" Luffy asked. "Yoh something…"

"Yohchi," Nami stated flatly. "Leaf-earth. Her name doesn't make much sense…"

Zoro narrowed his eyes. "Let's go do something."

Luffy smiled. "To the restaurant!"

Luffy, Nami, and Zoro headed for the restaurant.

--

Kaya looked at Usopp's hand upon hers. Her face became red, and her eyes became a bit glassy.

"I love you too, Mistress Kaya," Usopp said. Kaya's mouth opened just a bit, and she began to breathe heavily. Kaya flung her arms around Usopp, her knees balanced on the windowsill. Usopp placed his arm around Kaya's waist and gently lifted her out of the window.

Kaya was still embracing him when Usopp moved his head back just a little bit. Usopp boldly kissed Kaya. Kaya returned the kiss, not wanting to let it end. There she sat, in his arms, just kissing him.

Usopp fell to the ground, but they were still making out, completely unaware of their surroundings as they both sat on the grass, holding each other.

Kaya finally pulled away. They stared at each other for a very long time.

"Why don't you come in?" Kaya invited Usopp. Usopp nodded, and followed Kaya inside the house.

--

Sanji reached the beach to find Yohchi there, waiting for him. Yohchi looked up from the sandy ground, her tan tank-top dress billowing in the soft wind.

Sanji blinked. She looked beautiful, as she did the first time that he had met her.

"H-hello, Sanji," Yohchi stammered. Sanji smiled.

"Good to see you, Miss Yohchi," Sanji replied. "What do you want to do?"

"W-well, I've n-never been on a d-date…" Yohchi stuttered. Sanji blinked.

"That surprises me."

"I'm n-not l-lying, Sanji…"

"Well, what do you like doing?" Sanji asked.

"I l-like to t-take walks…"

Sanji took Yohchi's hand, sending an apprehensive shiver up his spine. "Then let's take a walk, shall we?"

"All r-right…"

Yohchi held onto Sanji's hand as the two of them walked along the beach, her heart thumping in her chest forcefully. She was too shy to really speak her mind around anyone, and Sanji was no different.

Sanji wanted to get through the layers surrounding the shy little girl, so he stopped. Yohchi stopped too.

Sanji sat down. "Sit down, Miss Yohchi."

"O-okay…"

Yohchi sat down on Sanji's command, unsure of what was going to happen.

"You're very shy," Sanji pointed out. "Why is that?"

"I-I guess its b-because… I-I really d-don't know, Sanji…"

"Are you shy because you feel… intimidated?" Sanji asked.

Yohchi raised an eyebrow as she looked at the sand. "U-usually… Madame is v-very f-frightening… I guess t-that rubbed off on m-me…"

"You don't need to be scared of me," Sanji smiled. Yohchi smiled as well.

"All right…"

Yohchi felt slightly more confident, and leaned her head on Sanji's shoulder. Sanji grinned.

"Feeling a bit better, Miss Yohchi?" Sanji asked.

"J-just because it's you…"

--

Luffy dropped a chicken bone on his plate. "I love restaurants!"

Nami sighed as she sipped on some cool iced tea. Zoro looked into his grog bottle, as if he suspected poisoning of some sort.

"Make way for Onion's Pirate Crew!" someone cried. Nami, Luffy, and Zoro looked over to see Onion, Carrot, and Pepper, Usopp's old 'pirate crew', standing in the doorway. They caught Luffy's eye and walked over.

"Hey guys!" Pepper smiled.

"Where's the weird blonde guy?" Carrot asked, confused. Nami's head fell.

"Where's Usopp?" Onion asked.

"We don't know!" Luffy smiled broadly. Zoro shrugged as well.

"I think Usopp's still at Kaya's house… we have no idea where Sanji is… and why did you call yourselves Onion's pirates?" Zoro asked.

"Let's go to Kaya's house!" Onion cried.

"HOW ABOUT ANSWERING MY QUESTION FIRST?!"

Pepper grinned. "Oh sorry! We're Onion's pirates because Usopp left, and Onion was the first mate! Now he's the captain!"

"Oh," Nami said simply.

"Now on to Kaya's house!" Onion cried, and the three kids ran off.

"Maybe I should follow them," Nami noted.

"Sounds fine," Zoro stated. Nami got up and followed Onion's Pirate Crew.

--

Usopp stood up. "I can't do this to you, Mistress Kaya."

"But you said you loved me…"

"I did say that… but I can't leave you, like my father left me," Usopp explained.

Kaya sat up on the bed. "I suppose you're right. And we still are pretty young…"

Usopp heard a knock on the door. Kaya heard it too.

"Holy crap," Kaya cried. She struggled to pull her arm through her sleeve and tripped over a shoe. Usopp blanched.

"Maybe I should get the door, Miss Kaya…"

"Maybe you should."

Usopp walked near the doorway when he heard the faint click of the doorknob. Merry, the butler, had gotten it.

"We're Onion's Pirates!" the voice of Pepper called.

"We're here to see Usopp!" Carrot's voice yelled.

"The straw hat guy told us that he was here!" said Onion's voice.

Usopp gulped. Hopefully, Merry wouldn't go up in Kaya's room and get the wrong idea. Usopp slunk back into the kitchen and pretended to be looking through a drawer.

"I'll go find him," Merry told the three and then walked down the hallway. Merry caught Usopp's eye and beckoned for him to follow him to the doorway.

--

Nami sighed. She was by herself in the room. Luffy and Zoro had gone out searching for Sanji, seeing that he'd been gone since ten, leaving Nami alone. Nami was thinking about… things.

It was actually very silly. Nami had never been in love with anyone, other than her parents, and that was a bit obvious. But whenever she saw Luffy, her heart melted on the spot. Her heart told her that all she really wanted was to be caught with Luffy underneath some mistletoe, or that he was that person whose touch she felt lingering over her skin at night.

Then there her brain, that told her that she was completely nuts, that Luffy was a pirate, something she kind of despised, and that she had only joined his crew for the vast expanse of treasure he'd managed to come up with. But how does one explain that age-old pull of fate, the one that ruins so many lives with just a simple tug?

Nami stared at the floor, her head in her hands and her heart with Monkey D. Luffy. Nami reasoned that her heart should have been with Zoro – a person that at least seemed a bit compatible with her. So why did she fall in love with the weird seventeen-year-old with the rubber body, the stupid hat, and the unbreakable dream?

Nami heard a gentle knock on her door. Nami stood up and opened the door. There, in the doorway, was Sanji, cigarette dangling out of his mouth, and his eyes giving Nami the same cold stare.

"Sanji! Where have you been all afternoon?!" Nami cried.

"At the beach," Sanji replied pointedly.

"Why?!"

Sanji stuck the cigarette in an ashtray. "I had a date. Why do you care?"

"AHA! So you WERE hitting on some girl!" Nami yelled. "I knew it! Who was it with, huh?!"

"None of your business," Sanji sighed before leaning against the wall. "Where are Luffy and crap-liar and Zoro?"

_Why does he always call Usopp crap-liar? _Nami thought.

"Luffy and Zoro went off to find you," Nami huffed. "And Usopp went over to Kaya's house about an hour after you left. We saw him wandering around the village with Onion's Pirate Crew a few hours ago."

"Heh." Sanji smiled. "Didn't know crap-liar had it in him."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN??"

"Wow, you're more naïve than I thought." Sanji snickered. "So, how bout it? Bet you've never been in love with anyone."

Nami turned red. "I have too, crap-waiter!"

"Hey don't use that against me!" Sanji complained. "So… who was it?"

"It wasn't you," Nami said flatly. Sanji shrugged.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Nami bit her lip. She didn't know that, outside of the door, Luffy was listening to every word being said in there. Of course, neither Nami nor Sanji had any way of knowing that he was outside. He had stretched his neck so it would reach the doorway from his hiding spot in the hall closet.

"I'm not so sure I should tell you," Nami smirked.

"Oh come on. I won't have a problem with it. Unless you say my name. Then I might hurt you."

Nami gulped. "Okay… Luffy."

"No way… hold on a second…!" Sanji was laughing uncontrollably.

"You said you wouldn't have a problem with it…"

Outside, Luffy brought his neck back to above his body. His face was bright red. He had always held Nami in highest regard inside his heart, a woman he really loved. But now… who knew what would happen… or what Sanji would do…

Luffy decided that maybe staying in the closet for a few more minutes was a pretty good idea.

---

Zoro opened the door to the hall closet. He found Luffy sitting on the floor, grinning broadly.

"Okay, Luffy, why are you in the hall closet?" Zoro asked.

"I'm hiding," Luffy replied. "Come on, let's go back to the hotel room."

Usopp peered into the closet from behind Zoro. "It's late, Luffy."

"Oh fine!" Luffy whined.

As the three of them walked down the hall, Luffy sighed. "Just don't tell Nami I was in the closet… okay?"

Zoro drew a blank, but nodded. "All right… Captain."

DISCLAIMER: I DOn't own One Piece.


End file.
